LAST UPDATE | 12 Jan 2021
THERE ARE NOW 1,700 people with Covid-19 in hospital and 158 in ICU across the country.
This is above the previous highest number of people in ICU during the pandemic and almost double the amount in hospital at the mid-April peak.
Before the third wave, hospital numbers peaked at 881 Covid-19 hospitalisations in mid-April and 155 in ICU at around the same time.
158 people were admitted to hospital in the past 24 hours and 88 people were discharged.
19 people were admitted to ICU in the past 24 hours and six discharged.
HSE CEO Paul Reid said earlier today “nobody wants more people sick” with Covid-19, adding that any of the patients in hospital or ICU “would swap with any of us”.
“The big ask of everyone is to stay at home & help get our hospitals & nursing homes back to safer levels. Our healthcare teams ask just this of us,” he said on Twitter.
Speaking on Newstalk yesterday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said there is “huge pressure” on hospitals right now.
He said the rise of the UK variant, increased socialisation over the Christmas period as well as the seasonality issues of people gathering indoors has created a “prefect storm” for the spread of the virus.
Martin said he was not blaming it all on the new variant, but said he believes it is a “very significant factor”.
On Friday, an agreement was reached between the HSE and 16 private hospitals to provide additional capacity if necessary during the next 12 months.
Under the agreement, the hospitals agreed to supply, depending on the incidence of the disease, up to 30% of their capacity.
Covid-19 hospitalisation figures topped 1,000 for the first time last Thursday.
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